Certains vignerons français développent une démarche originale quant aux cépages qu’ils cultivent. Ils repensent leurs pratiques selon une approche qui repose sur des choix délibérés où la référence à l’histoire et la fonction mémorielle sont essentielles. Une première partie montre comment, depuis la fin du XIXème siècle, la science et la technique ont peu à peu investi la viticulture jusque là empirique et traditionnelle. Il en résulte aujourd’hui un contexte où la production de vin en France est dominée par un cadre technique et réglementaire, conditionné par les perspectives économiques et une politique européenne. Les vignerons sont désormais contraints dans le choix de leurs cépages. L’enquête ethnobiographique montre qu’il existe, à côté d’une viticulture conventionnelle, des vignerons qui pratiquent une ampélographie populaire et appliquée, où le cépage autochtone est un élément identitaire essentiel, vecteur de la mémoire du groupe à travers les savoirs, les savoir-faire transmis et le goût du vin qu’il véhicule. Maîtrisant l’ensemble du processus de production, ces vignerons repensent chacune de ses étapes -du choix et de la mise en culture des variétés de vigne à la commercialisation de leur vin- en référence à l’histoire locale et à des usages ancestraux qu’ils ont recherchés et remettent en pratique. En lien avec le terroir et ses particularités, ces cépages originaux constituent un patrimoine revalorisé. Ils permettent aux vignerons d’élaborer des vins à l’originalité et à la personnalité propre, qui témoignent de la richesse d’une culture vigneronne résolument ancrée dans son histoire, et dont le succès commercial garantit la pérennité. / Certain French wine growers develop an original approach towards the grape variety they cultivate. They reconsider their practice with calculated choices where the reference to history and memory are essential. The first part shows how, since the end of the XIXème century, science and technology have little by little invested the wine growing, which until then was empirical and traditional. The result today is a context where the production of wine in France is dominated by a technical and lawful framework, conditioned by the economics and European policies. The wine growers are from now on constrained in their choice of wine varietals. The ethnobiographic investigation shows that there exists next to a conventional wine growing, “wine growers” who practice a popular ampelography which is applied where the indigenous grape variety is an essential identity element, vector of the memory of the group through knowledge, know-how and the taste of the wine that it conveys. Controlling all of the production process, these wine growers reconsider each one of its stages - from the choice and planting of the grape varieties to the marketing of their wines - in reference to the local history and ancestral know-how that they rediscovered and use. In connexion with the soil and its characteristics, these original grape varieties constitute a revalorized inheritance. They make it possible for the wine growers to develop original wines, with their own personality, which testifies the richness of a culture resolutely anchored in its history, and whose commercial success guarantees its durability.

La ricerca analizza l’evoluzione della vitivinicoltura nell’Oltrepò Pavese quale elemento caratterizzante il paesaggio di questo territorio. Tale settore produttivo risulta essere una delle principali attività svolte nell’area in esame e ne caratterizza l’economia, il paesaggio collinare, le tradizioni e le forme identitarie, specialmente nellla zona centro-orientale, ossia nei territori che gravitano sui centri urbani di Casteggio, Broni e Stradella. Il lavoro si propone di approfondire anzitutto la valorizzazione della tipicità e del locale, riassunti e rappresentati nel termine terroir, che indica l’insieme degli elementi geomorfologici, climatici, antropici e culturali che rendono unico un prodotto (in questo caso il vino), mettendo così il locale al centro di un’analisi che si può estendere poi a riflessioni di ordine generale. L’indagine geografica ha studiato gli aspetti ambientali e quelli antropici, nonché le loro relazioni. Si è fatto riferimento ai fattori geologici, pedologici e climatici, che altresì sono gli elementi imprescindibili degli studi di «zonazione» che si occupano proprio dell’interazione tra viticoltura e ambiente. L’indagine geostorica-territoriale si è rivolta soprattutto ai seguenti temi: il paesaggio vitivinicolo; i tipi di vitigni impiantati e i relativi sistemi di coltivazione; le produzioni e la commercializzazione del prodotto; la rappresentazione delle proprietà e del territorio attraverso i catasti. Inoltre si approfondiscono i temi geoeconomici sia a scala globale sia a scala locale, grazie alla rielaborazione delle informazioni relative al settore produttivo. Il contesto locale pertanto è confrontato con quello regionale, nazionale e globale, al fine di comprenderne i legami, soprattutto in relazione alle attuali sfide geoeconomiche. / In this thesis we analyse the evolution of grape growing and wine making as two of the elements which have contributed to the shaping of the landscape in the Oltrepò Pavese and represent two of the main economic activities of this geographic area, with is often identified with them – particularly in the mid-western part, i.e., the areas around the towns of Casteggio, Broni and Stradella. My main goal is to investigate the ways in which the values of locality and typicity – represented by the term terroir – are promoted. “Terroir” stands for, and comprises, a number of elements such as geo-morphological and climatic features, as well as human and cultural factors, all of which contribute to the uniqueness of a product like wine. My research thus starts from, and gives prominence to, the local level, in order to formulate a set of observations from which more general conclusions may then be drawn. The geographical investigation focusses on the environmental and human factors as well as their interrelationships. In its course, we refer to factors such as geology, pedology and climate, the crucial elements of all studies of «zoning», which describe precisely the complex interaction between grape growing and the environment. The geo-historical analysis concentrates especially on thematic areas such as the landscape; the varieties of grape that are planted and the respective growing techniques; the production and marketing of the produce; the ways in which property boundaries and the territory have been represented in land registries. The geo-economic factors, at both the local and global levels, are investigated through the analysis of the data from the production sector. The local context is thus compared to the regional, national and global ones in order to better understand the nature of their interactions and provide useful insights in relation to the challenges posed by the current geo-economic scenarios.